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GW—
81
BIZARRE BATTLES
The Spanish pelt each other with tomatoes, the Brits chase cheese and even the Germans
have managed to come up with a competition that allows them to make idiots of themselves
F E S T I V A L S
onlookers, is held annually in
Lincolnshire in eastern
England. Events include classic
target throwing, as well as a
more recent addition, Russian
roulette, which involves
participants breaking eggs
against each others’ foreheads;
whoever gets the raw egg is out
– and presumably covered in
eggy mess to boot.
Between Helpringham and
Swaton, Lincolnshire, UK, 24 June
Nearest GW airport:
Manchester
Batalla del Vino
At the end of June, Haro locals
arm themselves to the teeth with
water pistols, buckets and wine
bags. St Peter’s Day in Rioja,
northern Spain is also known as
wine-fight day. During this
chaotic fiesta, those brave
enough to venture onto the
streets and alleys get doused in
Cheese Rolling
Festival
Every year, hundreds of brave
and hungry competitors race
down Cooper’s Hill in
Gloucestershire, western
England, in hot pursuit of
runaway cheese.
Hundreds of participants in
fancy dress chase after the giant,
pungent Double Gloucester
‘wheels’ of cheese which roll
down the hill at speeds of up to
100kmph. This muddy spectacle
inevitably results in competitors
losing shoes and getting covered
in bruises. The notoriously steep
green bank is full of small bumps
and holes, which send the cheese
and the competitors tumbling
down the hill at unpredictable
speeds. By the time they’ve
reached the end of the 300m
course, contestants are a tangled
mass of flailing limbs. This
wacky Anglo-Saxon tradition is
said to be some 200 years old,
and it continues to attract
cheese-mad spectators from all
over the world.
Cooper’s Hill near Gloucester,
UK, 4 June
Nearest GW airport:
London
Heathrow
World Egg-Throwing
Championships
George Clooney may well have
been advised by British experts
when he decided to install an
egg-throwing machine to ward
off intruders at his Lake Como
home. However, he’s yet to
make it to the UK’s World Egg
Throwing Championships,
despite an official invitation
from its organisers, the World
Egg Throwing Federation. This
bonkers competition, which
attracts skilled egg throwers
and countless curious
copious amounts of red wine.
The only rule is that participants
have to wear white T-shirts
which show up every splash of
Rioja. The battle dates back to a
dispute about land ownership
with a neighbouring town. The
rift has long since healed, but the
ritual has proven to be so much
fun that tourists from all over
the world now join in the fight,
and of course, the reconciliatory
post-battle eating and drinking.
Haro, Rioja, Spain, 29 June
Nearest GW airport:
Bilbao
World Bodypaint
Festival
Each summer, hundreds of the
best body painters from 40
different countries descend on
the idyllic Wörthersee in
Kärnten, Austria, to cover living,
breathing canvases in their
colourful designs.
Bunte Körper amWörthersee
Colour me bad: Austria’s
body-painting festival
Das Wettrennen mit dem
Käserad im Südwesten England’s
Glory to the winners, tough
cheese to the losers